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January 1, 2021
Notorious from Becca's Crazy Projects

I finally took the plunge and started quilting this little piece. This was inspired by a cross stitch design created by Prudence Kitch. If you are a cross-stitcher you should check out their snarky little darlings. Get your own copy of Prudence Kitch - Notorious on Etsy. If you want to see some of my progress shots check out this post
The background is quilted with this flower motif. 
The dress is quilted with a variegated thread to make these swirls. 
I added some detail to the lily.
The swirls make their way up the bodice.
Nothing fancy for the gavel ...

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December 20, 2020
Never underestimate the inspiration caused by a group project from Art and Quilting in Camden

Art should be like a holiday: something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view. -Paul Klee, painter (18 Dec 1879-1940) 

So I’m part of Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild, one of two local groups. This chapter, part of the MQG (Modern Quilt Guild) is the smaller of the two and is almost completely comprised of members of Coastal Quilters (the other group) which is part of the statewide Pine Tree Quilt Guild (Maine is the Pine Tree state). For once, I decided to participate in a round robin sort ...

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November 29, 2020
Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 36-39: Airplanes, Civil War, Play Castle, Flower Power from Gefilte Quilt

Day 36: Airplane Blanket This family favorite was made for my kids, in the late 90s, from a delightful print of animals flying airplanes.


The border features consecutive yellow triangles, called "flying geese," made into giant arrows with the help of a multi-colored stripe serving as each arrow's shaft.  

Day 37: A Very Civil War
Our country survived the Civil War, and I hung this war-era quilt on November 3, just before the election, as a reminder to vote!
I found these blocks in a rural antique shop in upstate NY in the early 90s - there was a big ...

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October 26, 2020
Porch Quilt Show, Day 21: Magic Door from Gefilte Quilt

 Day 21: Magic Door

This may be my first scrap quilt, started in the mid 90s.  I owned very few prints at this point, so it's mostly solids. 
For years, it remained a top, and because of the lack of prints, I considered it very old-fashioned. Then, along came the Modern quilt movement. I realized - as did so many other quilters - that I was ahead of my time! So I decided to finish it, adding the log cabin borders (their edges are inexpertly satin stitched). I quilted it, with walking foot quilting. I liked the results enough to promote ...

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October 13, 2020
Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 11- 12: A Batik Chandelier and a Millenium Quilt from Gefilte Quilt

Day #11: "Chandelier, Shaken"

This quilt is improv paper pieced, using batik fabrics.

Closer: 

Much closer:

A little to the left: 

Finally, from the back - I like the way the light creates a stained glass effect!

It was pure fun, with minimal measuring. The techniques I used (though not this actual pattern) are in my booklet, "Modern Paper Piece Log Cabin Triangles," in my etsy shop, CathyPstudio, here.

Day #12: A Millenium Quilt

This large quilt (74" x 93", it almost hit the ceiling) is made of 2,000 squares, cut 2.5".

A little closer:

Center: 

Backstory: In the ...

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October 12, 2020
Prudence Dissents from Becca's Crazy Projects

Blogger still hasn't gotten their crap together with this new tool. Geez. When the feedback form doesn't work you know they've got their best people working on the upgrade. 
Back to quilting. This past weekend I got back to work on this fun little quilt. You can read more about this project in my first post about Prudence. Admittedly, I got better at putting the units together as I went along. 
I got to this point and realized I needed to take another look at the lily. I sat down with Electric Quilt but just couldn't ...

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October 9, 2020
Prudence Dissents from Becca's Crazy Projects

For those of you who may get your knickers in a knot over something you perceive as political, you can skip this one. If you believe women's rights are human rights, you can stick around to see what this is about. 

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg served 27 years on the Supreme Court of the United States. She changed the world both as a litigator before the Supreme Court and as a Justice on the Court. She argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court between 1973 and 1976, winning five. My life as a mother, wife, and service-member ...

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September 16, 2020
How Brave Are You? from Marty's Fiber Musings

 The poll question I was asked to respond to read "How brave are you feeling?"  At the time, I was feeling so wimpish that I couldn't respond to the question.  You see,  I want to be brave and strong and be in the present....but at that present time, I was feeling bored and not sure where to go with my newest floating squares work-in-progress!   









After having a second cup of coffee (too early for wine) and muddling around the possibilities, I decided this is it, this quilt is done! 


 But it still needed to be squared (she said ...

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August 29, 2020
Winding Ways: quilt and done! from Art and Quilting in Camden

Good tools (AccuQuiltGO!), good fabric (Michael Miller Fabrics), good thread (Aurifil), good machine (Janome Continental M7), and some experience, and you can do a lot! This return to my quilty roots just makes me happy!

Over the course of the year I’ve shared progress on this quilt:

  • First, there was learning to use the AccuQuiltGO! which I blogged about here. It was a different block, but the easy applies.
  • Then there is the PIECING of CURVES: see the blogpost here or go directly to the video on my YouTube Channel here.
  • Now there is the quilting video (that covers ...

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August 3, 2020
Piecing Curves…it is possible even for me from Art and Quilting in Camden

Whoo-eeeee! Lookit those perfect seams… this was my second block, and I think it looks pretty durn good for someone who doesn’t really piece a lot! There are a few MINOR things I can fuss at (like the seam allowance on the center top spike is a skosh wide and the upper left corner edge isn’t perfect, but still! Fabrics are batiks and Bright White Cotton Couture from Michael Miller Fabrics.

Precision piecing has never been my strong suit, but I am — like Michaelangelo at age 80 — still learning. One of the things I’ve learned is that ...

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July 20, 2020
BRMQG Retreat -- my projects from Fleur de Lis Quilts and Accessories

Remember reading about the Baton Rouge MQG retreat at the River Retreat House over the July 4th weekend. In this post I highlighted some of the works my friends created



Finally, I get to tell you about the pieces I worked on. Admittedly, I played as much as I worked. So the end results won't be much, but nevertheless, here they are. 


I started with the Sugaridoo row that needed doing. I'd packed one basket just for that purpose. Honestly, I didn't like it but once I saw it with the rest of the quilt, I decided ...

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July 17, 2020
August online class offerings! from Art and Quilting in Camden

Sign up here!

I’m thrilled to share that I will be teaching online again in mid August, and for the first time ever you can take my most popular class, Collage the Garden, LIVE ONLINE! Sign ups are open NOW and are here. One of the best things is you will be home, so you can get whatever it is you wish you had brought to class, because you are at home and sewing on your machine!

I’ll be offering:
Wednesday, August 12, 2020: Collage the Garden: From Photo to Flower (6 hours) from 10-4 Eastern daylight (there ...

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July 12, 2020
Need a Project? Take a New Look at an Old Quilt from Gefilte Quilt

Are you a loss for new projects? Quarantine is the ideal time to look at your finished quilts and ask yourself a melancholy yet potentially engaging question: Is this quilt really finished?

When I finish a quilt, I usually don't love it - I mainly see the flaws. It takes a while to figure out whether it needs more. But this improv-pieced quilt was an exception. I just loved it when I finished it in 2017.

Then, the people I showed it to went "Very nice, meh, next."

Then QuiltCon rejected it. Dang, I was soooo not-understood.

I held my ...

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July 4, 2020
The Dresden Blooms Quilt Top is Finished! from Jan's Quilts


Here it is laid out on the lawn.  Right after I took this, the wind came up, so the photo-taking had to move inside.  


Some of the Dresden Plates.

This is based on the video tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.  I changed 5 things.  (1) I added .5" to the large background squares, I made them 24.5"  

(2) The tutorial calls for the white strips to be 2, 3, 4, and 5 inches.  I decided on 2.5, 3, 4, and 4.5 inches, it's the little things.


Auditioning Background square fabric.

(3) I altered the ...

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June 12, 2020
Stepping Stones – A Free Quilt Pattern from Gray Barn Designs

Good morning!  We are anxious to share this new quilt pattern with you, it’s hot off the press! Full Quilt Outdoors LOGOSandy and I decided to call this quilt “Stepping Stones” because it reminds us of when we were back on the farm, heading out to get the cows for milking.  We had to cross the creek pictured below.  When you’re a little girl, crossing something like this seems daunting!  We would always step on the stones to try and keep our feet dry.   Scenic creekThis is a fast and easy quilt created with a colorful 40 piece jelly roll and 11 ...

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June 10, 2020
Design wall updates from The Academic Quilter

Hi all! Just taking a little time from this stupid paper that I'm writing to say hello and show a couple of things that I've pulled out to work on. I usually go to a conference early in June, but that's been cancelled this year, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Somehow sitting on the deck with a cool drink doesn't feel right.

Last week, when I was feeling pretty low (still feeling that way, but no politics today!) I started going through some of my project boxes ...

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June 7, 2020
Less Hideous Challenge = Rose Garden from Sew Sunshine



Rose Garden 
22" x 22"
Less Hideous Challenge for OMQG
Improv Piecing
Organic Hatch quilting


One of my local guilds set up a challenge where you pulled fabric out of a big bag of uglies. I picked the two above which I felt were lesser of all the dated fabrics. I kept them laying around until I thought what I wanted to do. It was hard because the bigger print would be hard to put in any kind of quilt block and it would still read traditional. 
Then I figured I would have to improv a traditional block, in this ...

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April 28, 2020
Quaran-stitching from The Academic Quilter

Hello all! How is your quarantine coming along? I'm hanging in there, still teaching and still putting in a ton of hours every week. I'm pretty sure when the semester is over I'm going to need to sleep for two solid weeks. Thankfully, I'll have the time since we're not going to go meet our new granddaughter yet. And if I think about that, I'll go down the rabbit hole of depression, so let's not go there! Let's talk stitching instead!

I've been distracting myself by organizing things in the sewing ...

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April 22, 2020
Mindless but colorful from The Academic Quilter

Hello friends! Where did today go? Last night I went to write this post but had nothing but trouble with the Internet. It was in and out and wouldn't take any picture uploads. Somehow it never does that when I'm trying to teach. (Thank goodness!) So, I thought I would write it this morning, but I started working and all of a sudden it was 5 pm. I have no idea how that happens!

I have to start with a bit of happy news in the midst of the crisis we're all enduring-- we have a new ...

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April 14, 2020
More Masks and "Favorite Fabrics" ~~ finished! from Fleur de Lis Quilts and Accessories

Do you know how good it feels to pick up a quilt top, quilt-bind-label it, and call it done? Yes? Great. I'm here to tell you it feels even better when said quilt top has been waiting, patiently, in a basket or bin or (gasp) plastic bag for longer than you care to remember. Oh yes! It's a wonderful thrill. I recommend it highly. My heart still does a little flip when I think of it. 


More on the quilt later. First let's get these masks out of the way. There are 15 in this picture, more ...

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